Printing



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UNITED STATES PATENT OFF-ICE.

THOMAS S. FOX, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

PRINTING.

No Drawing.

T 0 all whom it may concern Be it known that I, THoMAs S. Fox, a citizen of the United States, residing at Brooklyn in the county of Kings and State of New 1 ork, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Printing, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in printing, and in one of its preferred applications has reference to a method or process for the breaking of or relieving the heavier or solid color effects such as usually appear in backgrounds or shadings. In solid backgrounds, the effect is too intense and thfi solid color frequently smudges or smears off. For the purpose of overcoming this is a common practice to engrave by hand the part of the out Which otherwise would print in solid color and'this engraving relieves the background or shadin effects and re duces this liability of smuclging and smearm ahe carrying out of my invention contemplates a new and useful use of printing film's, special inks, etc., in the treatment of printing plates of metal, stone, etc. The use of transparent printing mediums such as films is described in the patent to Benjamin Day 214493 of 1879, but in the use of printing films it has been found difiicult and impractical to print even effects with films the printing elevations or surfaces of which occupy a large part, say of the total area of the film surface whileit is easy to make impressions with films where say only more or less of the total area of the film surface is covered by the printing elevations.

In order to get dark printing effects by films or etching, I make my film impressions with a film that carries little color, that is to say, films, the printing elevations or surfaces of which occupy a comparatively small area. I use on my film an ink insoluble in one solvent and then apply another ink in a manner hereinafter described soluble in another solvent over the impressions Specification of Letters Patent. Patented J 20, 1922 Application filed August 22, 1919, Serial No. 319,261.

was hare is covered With ink. In the pracme of my pro ess I pr f to pro ubstantially as follows: I may use a roller preferably of rubber charged with an ink hmh may be s ubl in cohol or other blyent but Pre rab y o b e n Water- Thls ink may he made up by mixing 1 oz. of honey to oz. of glycerine with an equal mou t by weig t'tf grap t i he wet state known i'n'the market as Atchesons concentrated graphite or aquadag, sutfien ly f e d. rbmwa er- Simil s y e mad of Wate s lubl s bs n Such a fish glue, gums, etc, with any suitable coling matter l sh s lamp b a I p oce d o ink my film y ng the fil r. being prefe ably a e p f a m Par i u a y set f th in my aten 76 of l904: and in turn transfer or print these water soluble impressions or marks upon the surface to be treated. I may then dust upon these impressions .or marks any suitable powder, but preferably a water soluble po ered gum s ch s gr m a w c will unite with the ink, owing to the moisre remaining n e sam o m g a fi surface or crust which will not smudge. A oist apor such as the brea h, r th r wise will facilitate this and is preferably appl ed only af e ll s p s po de h s en r moved prefer b y y b s ng- I may then r 0. pply by dau er r but preferably by rolling with the pliable ol er, an acid re isting n er h e tire surface which of COulSe covers the water soluble ink and surrounding parts of the Pl e h a film. of k f ic e tly t i a y porous enough to allow ate h ch is e appl ed to e h the sum c er d pressions to dissolve them, carrying away l o any of the a id e sting i pon t eir surface, leaving the surface bare where the W t salabl ink was first pp d a d t metal now covered with an acid resisting ink where it was formerly bare. The plate is now ready for treatment or etching in any Well known manner.

After making impressions with the water soluble ink as above described, I may at any stage of the operation'stop out any selected port-ions by painting over the same with substance such as asphaltum or the like soluble in benz'ole, etc, and then after reinking the film- I-"may shift the same and continue to make more impressions on the be the case in flowing and causing an uneven coating with the llabillty of becoming too places not stopped out which :in turn may be treated with asphaltum and so on. I' may now wash off all the asphaltum with ben-' zole which leaves the ater ink marks in contact with the metal surface unchanged so that I may now apply in acid resisting-ink and proceed as hereinbe ore stated.

c There are many instances in which this process is useful such as in the treatment of electrotypes with smooth black'printing surfaces which for certain reasons it is desirable to relieve with engraved effects as of.

stipples, lines, etc, which will show in white against a black background, numerous in; stances'of which maybe seen in advertising cuts of present day publications, but in which case the effect has been produced engraving such as. with a hand tool; But

this hand tooling is a slow and expensive method. In treating such surfaces I may paint or smear inthe depressions such as between type'or sunken letters, etc., with a quick drying acid resisting" varnish and re move same from the surface of the 'letters with a flat piecefof charcoal or'emory' paper any of'the varnish that mayhav'e lodged thereon and may then proceed as aforesaid. It will be observed that by depositingmy acid resisting inkby rolling, etc, I amable to regulate the amount I desire to apply and 7 may also apply very evenly as would not thick insome places to allow a solvent to penetrate to dissolve the iinpress'ions underneath.

- This process is also of particular utility in other reversing operations; It facilitates the use of printing films on plates for inta'glio" printing, enabling the artistto see his work in its proper color value, the printing in this case being oppositefrom typographic print ing' in that the printing ink occupies the etched depressions. It is also desirable at times to reverse design film patterns. .Imay also thin my water soluble ink with water or use other soluble inks and make impres sions of dots, lines, etc., with a pen or brush or an equivalent tool in combination with or without film impressions and then apply my said resisting ink or other soluble inkand proceed substantially I aspreviously outlined.

I am aware'that efforts have been made to accomplish the results I have enumerated by making impressions by an acid resisting ink and dipping or flowing an alcoholicsolution over the same but by my method I avoid a running, streaky uneven coating and am able to regulate at will the amount and development of the impressions underneath without the danger of smudging my water soluble impressions. I am also able to treat locally any part of the photographed inked print without danger of using a solventthat would destroy parts not intended ifflowed over the same. I may also make my film impressions with an ink soluble in alcohol such. as a resin oil ink known as Cuti Cura manufactured by George H. Morrell 49 Rose St. New York city and using as a dusting powder preferably gum mastic and I may if desired melt this by alcohol fumes to form the crust and then over this I may roll linseed oil varnish ink which is insoluble in alcohol and is known in the trade as Litho #6 made by the same firm and develop my first impressions with alcohol, but I find it simpler and more satisfactory to use my water soluble ink, thus avoiding any danger of solvents that 'might easily dissolve in parts not intended, the water as a solvent having no effect on acid resisting inks.

Of course it will be understood that various'modifications may be made in the ingredients and proportions of the same without departing from the spirit of the invention as claimed, and the same applies asto the particular order or procedure pursued in the practice of my process.

lfThe process of reversing impressions in printing consisting in the making of said impressions in a water. soluble ink, then dusting on powdered material, then rolling on another. ink soluble in another solvent and then dissolving away the watersoluble ink.. V

2; The process of reversing impressions in printing consisting in making water soluble printing ink impressions, dusting on a powdered gumsolublein water, then applying moist vapor and then applying another ink soluble. in another solvent and dissolving away the water soluble ink.

3. The process of reverslng impressions in printing consisting in coating the depres-. sions in a printing surface to be treated with.

material over the powdered. materlal im.

pressions and other parts soluble in a difierent solvent, and then dissolving away the impressions. s j

5. The process of reversing impressions in printing consisting in making impressions by pen or brush, with a material soluble in one solvent, making film' impressions with a material soluble in the same solvent, dusting on powdered material, then applying material soluble in another solvent, then dissolving away the pen and brush film impressions.

6. The process of reversing impressions in printing consisting in making impressions with a material soluble in one solvent, applying gum mastic thereto, treating the same with a volatile solvent, applying another ink soluble in a different solvent, and dissolving the inked impressions.

7 The process of reversing impressions in printing consisting in the making of said impressions in a water soluble ink, then applying another material, then rolling on an ink soluble in another solvent, and dissolving away the water soluble ink.

8. The method of producing a printing surface, consisting in producing upon a surface the subject to be printed, applying marks upon said surface with material soluble in certain solvents, also applying other marks upon said surface by films with material solvent in other solvents, removing some of said marks, subsequently using said surface for the preparation of a printing surface to be used in a press so that the parts uncovered by the removed marks will be distinguishable in the printed copy.

In testimony I hereunto aflix my signature.

THOMAS S. FOX. 

